Brady looked over the newest results then called for a helo to airlift them. Half an hour later, the chopper descended near the crater. Brady and his team climbed in and were lifted up. Laser fire chased them across the sky, and he gripped the edge of the open bay tightly, not wanting another fall from the sky.
When they were too high for lasers to reach them, he sat and pulled out his medic bag. He felt the impact of the past few hours much more than he preferred. He shot himself up with the drugs he'd brought with him, leaning his head back against the back of the seat as they traveled.
The helo left them at Texarkana, the southernmost point on their map, before missile fire from the other side of the river erupted. Brady watched the helo lift off then turned to the abandoned city. The missile fire stopped when the helo retreated.
"The emerops facility is …" Elise frowned and trailed off. "It says it's at the edge of the city and open."
"Open? As in, she's here?" Dan asked.
"No. Open as in … well, they're all open. It must've happened overnight. I checked them yesterday."
"Some glitch maybe?"
"I can't tell."
"Where is it?" Brady asked, gazing at the empty highway system on one side of them and the city on the other.
"About three kilometers. Follow me," Elise said and started forward.
They jogged to the emerops facility. Brady identified it long before they arrived. It had been raided, and looters left a trail of supplies leading out of it. He poked his head into the facility but saw nothing aside from scattered supplies.
Something rustled in the back, and Brady drew a knife, entering. He followed the sounds and peered through one shelf into the aisle on the other side. A youth was stuffing a bag full of medical supplies.
"Brady!" Dan called.
The boy froze then bolted. Brady cursed and darted around the shelf, sprinting after the kid. The youth turned a corner, and Brady followed then stopped. The youth had dropped into a dark hole in the floor of the facility.
"Here, Dan!" he called and knelt. He peered into the hole. The entrance under the facility was hastily dug but the tunnel running beneath the facility had thick metal walls and concrete floors and was lit by battery-operated lanterns. "There's a tunnel under here."
"Underground railroad," Dan said.
"The what?" Elise asked.